NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Electric mobility in Africa is an emerging but highly fragmented market, defined by uneven policies, diverse vehicle types and limited scale. As a sector that spans hardware, software and commercial layers, e-mobility requires solutions that address all three dimensions simultaneously. Interoperability has therefore become a critical enabler — one capable of stitching together these disparate elements and creating the foundation for true, scalable mass adoption.

Interoperability can turn distributed hardware systems — electric vehicles and batteries — into a usable network. Without it, drivers and fleets (i.e., the array of vehicles made by specific e-mobility companies) face a number of challenges, including: vendor lock-in, in which they are tied to a single battery or charging company’s proprietary technology; disjointed payment/user journeys, in which different apps or accounts must be used to access various charging or battery swapping services; and underutilised charging or swapping assets. With interoperability, battery charging and swapping infrastructure can be done through a predictable and standardised universal system that replaces network-specific access. This approach supports mass adoption and efficient utilisation, and enhances investor confidence in e-mobility infrastructure companies.

The European Union’s recent regulatory moves and India’s decisive push on battery swapping show two different routes toward interoperability, both of which are practical. One is driven by regulation and roaming protocols — i.e., a set of rules that let a driver use charging infrastructure owned by various operators through a single account, much like a cellphone user switching to another network seamlessly when traveling. The other is governed by pragmatic market design and standardised swappable assets.

These two interoperability models are the most relevant blueprints for cities and fleets in transitioning mobility markets such as Africa. They have produced mixed results but also valuable lessons, providing Africa with a rich set of insights as it builds its e-mobility ecosystem. We’ll explore the value of interoperability in this growing sector, and share some of those lessons below.

What is interoperability in electric mobility?

Interoperability, simply put, is the ability of one system to work seamlessly with others. A familiar analogy is the shift to USB-C charging, which eliminated the need for different chargers across phone brands. However, interoperability must not be confused with standardisation — i.e., compelled adherence to a specific standard, either due to regulatory requirements or market dominance.

Interoperability sits between the extremes of fragmentation and standardisation. Fragmented, proprietary technologies create isolated ecosystems that enable experimentation but constrain scale. Standardisation, on the other hand, requires uniform specifications that unlock mass adoption but risk inhibiting innovation if imposed too early. Interoperability provides the middle path, allowing diverse systems to function together without forcing uniformity.

In electric mobility, interoperability operates across three layers:

• Hardware interoperability covers the physical aspects — compatible connectors, charging interfaces, battery packs, and other mechanical or electrical interfaces.
• Software interoperability enables communication between vehicles, chargers and third-party platforms (e.g., network-agnostic charging infrastructure or battery-as-a-service platforms), ensuring coordinated operations and the real-time exchange of data on charger/battery status and availability, user identity, charging sessions, pricing and tariffs, vehicle battery status, energy management, etc.
• Commercial and regulatory interoperability involves roaming agreements, billing and payment frameworks, mandated APIs or connectivity standards, and procurement rules that avoid proprietary vendor lock-in.

Route 1 Toward Interoperability: The European Way

The EU’s recent regulatory wave, including the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation and its accompanying technical standards, now requires all new and upgraded public chargers to be digitally connected, remotely monitored, open to third-party access and data exchange, and capable of smart charging — i.e., controlled, flexible and coordinated charging services that adjust to when and how vehicles charge in response to grid, energy and system constraints. This effectively makes interoperability a compliance mandate rather than a discretionary commercial feature.

At the same time, the EVRoaming ecosystem (built around the Open Charge Point Interface protocol), along with initiatives under the evRoaming4EU program, show how open roaming can function in practice. The Open Charge Point Interface is a standardised communication protocol that enables different charging networks to share data and work together, and allows EV drivers to access multiple operators using a single account. These frameworks allow e-mobility service providers and charge point operators to let drivers locate, authenticate and pay at charging stations across networks and borders without maintaining multiple accounts.

As a result, many EU countries now deliver cross-network roaming across cities and major corridors. Crucially, regulation has reduced coordination failures — battery and e-vehicle vendors and small battery-as-a-service and charging-as-a-service operators now face clear minimum standards, reducing investment risk and enabling commercially viable roaming. Europe demonstrates that interoperability scales when regulation mandates digital connectivity and open protocols — and when market actors provide the clearing and settlement mechanisms to make roaming work in the real world.

Route 2 Toward Interoperability: The Indian Way

Battery swapping in India has been established by major players such as Sun Mobility and Battery Smart, creating one of the world’s most mature swap-based ecosystems. They utilise the battery-as-a-service model wherein the vehicle is decoupled from the battery, which is provided on a subscription basis. In parallel, the market has experimented with the Open Charge Point Protocol and intermediary bridge solutions that allow smaller charge point operators to connect to roaming platforms without implementing full Open Charge Point Interface stacks. This pragmatic, lightweight integration — rather than the strict protocol compliance that characterises regulator-led models — has enabled early cross-network utility for urban fleets and publicly available chargers. While not yet scaled nationwide, it has validated interoperability through battery-as-a-service models.

India has also recently formalised technical and operational guidelines for setting up both charging and battery swapping stations. Given the commercial concentration of e-mobility in the two- and three-wheeler segments, these guidelines help make interoperable swap clusters viable — making the business model for large-scale, vendor-agnostic battery swapping systems feasible. The Indian experience shows that when demand is concentrated around a clear use case, and regulators define specific technical requirements, interoperability can scale rapidly.

Interoperability in Africa: Assessing the Current Market

The African e-mobility market is primarily concentrated in the two-wheeler fleet segment, with the largest activity in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, and emerging pockets in Nigeria and Ghana. Companies such as Ampersand, Roam, Arc Ride and Spiro have built their operations around their own specific battery swapping networks through both publicly available and private (home-based) charging stations. Regulators across the region remain cautious about standardising batteries for swapping, preferring to let the market mature before imposing uniform specifications. Pilot programs offering interoperable battery swapping are underway, but their outcomes have not yet been published.

Africa has several structural drivers that could be leveraged to support interoperability, including: widespread use of cashless payment systems, strong demand for electrification from fleet operators like Uber and Bolt, and the availability of concessional capital from development partners. However, the market remains early-stage and faces significant gaps, such as heterogeneous vehicle hardware and battery chemistries, evolving regulatory frameworks, inconsistent charging and communication protocols, and limited grid and digital reliability.

Additionally, most leading e-mobility players have built proprietary systems to establish early market share, creating incentives to resist open standards that could erode competitive differentiation. Compounding this, the near-total absence of a local manufacturing base and heavy dependence on imported components encourage operational and design diversity rather than standardisation.

Likely Pathways Toward Interoperability in African E-Mobility

Despite these challenges, African countries are accelerating toward transport electrification, an irreversible trend. Interoperability will follow the same path. Its rollout may be uneven and phased, but its arrival is inevitable. Based on the lessons learned in the EU and India, the strategic choice now is which pathway to adopt: Europe’s regulation-driven model; India’s middleware-enabled, use-case-led approach, characterised by bridge solutions like battery-as-a-service, but lacking complete regulation compliance; or a hybrid that leverages Africa’s second-mover advantage by combining regulatory clarity with pragmatic market experimentation from the outset.

For regulators, this is the moment to mandate digital connectivity for all new charging infrastructure and battery swapping stations. Investors and development partners should prioritise funding pilots, middleware solutions and programs for developing interoperable fleets. Meanwhile, e-mobility and battery/charging solution providers must begin forming technology partnerships around open standards, to avoid locking the market into incompatible systems.

Interoperability is no longer an aspirational goal. The continent has begun taking early steps toward use-case-driven interoperability, with Ampersand at the forefront. The company recently announced that it is opening its battery network to vehicle manufacturers. Ampersand’s battery-as-a-service model will allow original equipment manufacturers to build and supply vehicles that operate seamlessly on its battery platform, eventually creating a foundation for interoperability.

Africa can leapfrog countries like the EU and India by learning from global precedents that show the value of early alignment between policymakers and industry leaders. The real question is not whether interoperability will become a reality, but whether Africa will choose to coordinate now — or pay later through costly retrofits and entrenched fragmentation.

Ashay Abbhi is a Principal with the Energy and Climate Change team at Intellecap; Nyaga Kebuchi is the Director at Sustainable Transport Africa.

Photo credit: HuiLiu